Immigration Law: Home

Immigration law research guide that covers primary, secondary and international sources, as well as information about federal agencies, organizations, and how to stay current. This guide also lists relevant forms.

New Library Acquisitions

This feed presents recent Pace Law Library acquisitions in the area of Immigration, Asylum, and Refugee Law. Click on the resource title for more information.

Introduction

While Immigration Law is statutorily based, it is almost entirely administrative in practice. Applications for visas are made through the Department of State. Employment visas also require application through the Department of Labor. Determinations on residency and citizenship, and refugee status are made by Citizenship and Immigration Services. Undocumented persons are arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement a part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The current structure of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship law was created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (or McCarran-Walter Act) which liberalized immigration. Since then Immigration Law has been amended significantly on a number of occasions. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 discontinued quotas based on national origin, while preference was given to those who have U.S. relatives. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who had been in the United States before 1982 but made it a crime to hire an illegal immigrant. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRaIRA) made changes to asylum law, immigration detention, criminal-based immigration, and many forms of immigration relief. The REAL ID Act (2005) restricted aspects of political asylum, reduced habeas corpus relief for immigrants, increased immigration enforcement mechanisms, altered judicial review, and imposed federal restrictions on the issuance of state driver's licenses to immigrants and others.